"False it until you do it": the odd case of the social smuggler of New York | American News

JDiane Kiesel could barely hide her irritation. Anna Sorokin, the defendant at the center of a highly publicized extortion lawsuit in the art world, was refusing to attend the proceedings because of her dissatisfaction with the its holding of hearing.

"It's a lawsuit," Kiesel told Sorkin's attorney, Todd Spodek. "She is an accused. I'm sorry, his clothes do not live up to his standards. You ask me to stop this lawsuit because of his wardrobe?

Not exactly, said Spodek. It was true, he said, that this 28-year-old woman, nicknamed the "socialist fraudster" by the New York tabloids, "did not want to appear in Rikers' clothes and that her clothes were dirty and not in a hurry."

But, he said, it was "a set of things, not just his clothes. She has nausea. She has been up since 4 am She is not treated well by other inmates and some officers … "

Kiesel ordered the court officials to give coffee or water to Sorokin and ordered a break. An hour later, the accused was brought. She was wearing a white shirt and black pants.

It was not the Miu Miu she wore on Tuesday, nor the Saint Laurent on Thursday. (GQ announced it hired a stylist.) For most of last week, Sorokin's wardrobe informed audiences that gave New York a slight entertainment between the El Chapo affair and the start of the trial. Harvey Weinstein badual badault.

The obsession with the presentation is strangely appropriate, as the story of Anna Sorokin, or Anna Delvey when she presented herself to the highest echelons of the art world, speaks of a young woman accused of having used a spark of sophistication to perpetrate a rush of $ 275,000 worth of friends, banks, private jet companies, designers and upscale hotels

The name of Anna Delvey became public a year ago, in an article in New York magazine titled How Anna Delvey deceived Party People in New York. Vanity Fair then told how the woman invited a friend to spend a sumptuous vacation in Marrakech, then let her pay the bill.

"She came into my life with Gucci sandals and Celine glbades," writes Rachel DeLoache Williams, "and has shown me a glamorous world and no frictions of life at the hotel, Le Coucou dinners. and infrared saunas and Moroccan holidays. And then she made my $ 62,000 disappear.

"Giants of the contemporary contemporary scene"

Sorokin is charged with having cashed $ 160,000 in fees from a financial advisory firm as part of an attempt to lease a property on Park Avenue in which she was considering a deal. to open an art club. Presenting herself as a wealthy art collector from Cologne, Germany, she offered agents a suspicious screenshot showing a bank balance of $ 20 million.

At the center of this alleged scam was a brilliant 80-page flyer aimed at potential investors of the "Anna Delvey Foundation", which contained names that would make them feel like initiates in the art world, some of whom would have become his target.

"His interests and his collection have [sic] The pamphlet quoted: "Urs Fischer, Cindy Sherman, Agnes Martin, Ed Ruscha, Anish Kapour [sic]and Helmut Newton, to name a few.

It also included personalities from the world of art, including designer Daniel Arsham, Eric Shiner, former director of the Warhol Museum, and Noah Wunsch, vice president of marketing strategy and digital strategy of Sotheby's, who recently sold a collection of Supreme skateboards designed by well-known artists for $ 1.2 million.

According to the New York Post, "Anna Delvey" also attempted to scam "the ultimate crook," Billy McFarland, who is now jailed in connection with the infamous Fyre festival.

Unsurprisingly, his story caught the attention of filmmakers. Shonda Rhimes, the force behind Gray's Anatomy and Scandal, announced the creation of a television series on Sorokin. Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie would have shown interest in the lead role in a film based on the story of Vanity Fair. Sorokin, who pleaded not guilty, would be interested in his life on the screen.

But who is she? On the surface, it's easy to answer. According to prosecutors, she comes from Russia. It has been reported that his father is a truck driver. It is more difficult to answer the question of how his alleged fraud went so far.

In the last ten years or more, the art world has been flooded with foreign money, largely from former Soviet states. In these circumstances, the less question galleries and auction houses are asking questions about the origins of these new funds or their holders, the better.

But some New York women who met "Anna Delvey" ended up asking a key question. She may have managed to take away fashion, but her hair was not capped at the height. Why not?

"There is a little Anna at everyone's place"

In his opening remarks last week, Spodek attempted to portray his client as anyone else who comes to New York to do it. He quoted a Sinatra anthem, New York, New York, claiming that the idea of ​​"making a fresh start" here "resonates with people from around the world."

"There is a bit of Anna in everyone," he said. "Everyone is lying a little bit."

He described his crimes as "chutzpah" and "moxie," claiming that the accepted rule of the elite social scene in New York was "fake it until you do it." He also blamed the influence of culture obsessed with social media.

"Every millennium will tell you," he says, "it is not uncommon to have illusions of greatness."

Asked to explain his client's concerns regarding the presentation, he told the Guardian: "It's particular to high society, be it art, fashion, film or music. Barriers to entry are high or you must have relationships. "

The brochure that Sorokin presented, he said, "was a completed and approved business plan".

It was enough to put Sorokin at the door. A well-known hotelier contacted by the Guardian said that they had summoned it to accommodate a friend, Aby Rosen, art collector and developer, to whom Sorokin had been attempting to rent a space for his club and who was to speak.

"I listened to it 35 minutes and left the meeting," said the hotelier. "It sounded like complete gibberish."

The Sorokin affair comes at the end of a boom in the world of art. After that, there was a procession of counterfeit lawsuits, cases of tax evasion and charges of double-dealing between rich collectors and merchants. Most of the conflicts in this luxury market where wealth meets – or bumps up – with art sellers offering the social sophistication conferred are settled even before they reach the courts. Sorokin, however, rejected a plea agreement last year.

On Friday, after the prosecution had suggested to the accused to "simulate", Kiesel had warned Sorokin that it was in his interest to attend.

"I've had mixed signals here," said Kiesel, after learning from Sorokin that she was not feeling well and that she had unspecified "logistical" issues with her outfit . "And when other defendants sent me conflicting signals, I called them and asked them what the nature of the disease was. I do not think that Ms. Sorokin should receive special treatment.

"If she refuses to show up for reasons that, in my opinion, are not legitimate, the case will continue with an empty chair."